Island architecture of the Îles Chausey by Hilke Maunder

About "Island architecture of the Îles Chausey"

by Hilke Maunder

About the artwork

From April to October, Jolie France ferries cross daily, otherwise on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays from Granville to the Îles Chausey, from where the monks of Mont-Saint-Michel took the stones to build their abbey in the Middle Ages.

Later, the Precambrian island granite was quarried on a large scale. The stones from the Îles Chausey can also be found in buildings in Paris, Dieppe and even London. Up to 500 stonemasons lived on the islands in the 19th century.
Granite also characterises the island architecture of Europe's largest archipelago. 365 islands are said to be visible at low tide, 52 at high tide. According to some. Others say only 22 islands.

But only one of Europe's largest archipelago is inhabited: the Grande Île. The islands are connected by sandbanks. And their identical rock: granite. The locals sail around their island kingdom in small, flat boats called dories. There are no proper roads or even cars here. Tractors and animals transport luggage and goods on land, people move around on foot, if necessary by bike, preferably by boat.
Around 50 houses, natural stone or plastered white, covered with stone shingles, rise up between large gardens, boat sheds, bushes and flowering hedges. Here yellow broom, there palms and fig trees. Thanks to the Gulf Stream, the islands have an almost Mediterranean feel.
The mild Norman climate already appealed to prehistoric man. They also left their mark on the archipelago. Flint tools from the Mesolithic period have been found during archaeological excavations on the Chausey Islands. They prove that people have lived there for at least 10,000 years. Paradise!